xm4smps

(Thanks to pkmnexplorer for this week’s “Sonic & Luigi” image, found in a recent Sears catalog.)

Sonic Retro News

MarkeyJester released a small hack this week ’cause he iz teh gratis. The thing seems like a joke hack but is pretty great. Check it out! [ Pana Der Hejhog ]

Mercury wrote an extensive piece on reoccuring themes in Masato Nakamura’s compositions for Sonic 1 and 2 and wound up finding some interesting similarities between the Sonic 1 Special Stage theme and Sonic 2‘s unused track 10 music. It’s a longer read, but worth it for fans of the series’ earliest music. [ A Musical Mystery Still Unsolved ]

Popular music porting software xm4smps received an update to work with XMs created on OpenMPT 1.19+; as a bonus, some of the features which were in development are also shown in this build. [ xm4smps 4.1 ‘beta’ ]

The Japanese Sonic Generations website was updated this week, but not before learning about some exotic new character when we were promised no more! [ Some fox named Milse ]

I’m under the impression that some of our readers believe that friendship is magic or something. I’m not really sure what it has to do with Sonic the Hedgehog, or why our member’s-only lounge has a huge thread about ponies, but of course someone somewhere has to combine these two fandoms. [ My Little Mega Drive ]

Sega/Sonic News

Sonic Generations Collector’s Edition was announced last week for European and Australian audiences, but this has left other audiences without a way to purchase the box set. Right now, the best option for North and South American audiences is to go through Amazon UK, who is currently charging 85GBP for a preorder on the game and approximately 10GBP for airmail shipping and customs charges (if applicable for your country.) Keep in mind that this may not be the best deal, but it is the best of what has been announced so far and given the limited run of Collector’s Edition sets, you may want to preorder now. [ Sonic Generations: Collector’s Edition for 360 / Sonic Generations: Collector’s Edition for PS3 ]

Australian chain GAME is holding a charity auction of games from the Sonic franchise before Sonic Generations‘ release. The kicker? Their presenter, Ed, doesn’t have the 45 games needed to hold a complete auction. If you’re willing to donate a copy, you can get a 50AUD voucher for GAME and a free copy of Generations. [ GAME Australia Embarks on the Amazing Sonic Quest ]

I heard some sass earlier this week that the just-announced Rhythm Thief would simply be a rip-off of Elite Beat Agents and nothing worth writing home about. Sassers? You’re wrong, and these screenshots and video prove otherwise. [ Nintendo 3DS Conference 2011 ]

SEGAbits celebrates the 12th anniversary of the Dreamcast this week with a series of articles culminating with a podcast full of DC nostalgia. [ Dreamcast 12th Anniversary ]